ATHLETES from Wirral took part in the Merseyside Schools' Cross Country Championships at Sherdley Park, St Helens.

In the Junior Girls' race, top finisher for Wirral was Lindsay Doyle (West Kirby) in sixth place, followed by Nicki Smith (Plessington) 15th, Sarah McDonnell (Bebington High) 16th and Annemika Van Der Pauw (West Kirby) 17th. The Wirral team finished third behind Sefton and Liverpool.

For the Inter Girls', Rebecca Lindsay (West Kirby) came fourth, thereby gaining automatic selection into the Merseyside team to compete at the English Schools' Cross Country Championships. Ellie Yavari (Bebington High) finished eighth with Jennie Allison (Plessington) 11th.

Meanwhile, in the Boys' races, Wirral were first team in the Senior Boys' event and second in both the Junior and Inter Boys' age groups. For the Junior Boys, Chris Allen (Calday) was fifth, with Paul Brabin (also Calday) eighth, David Yarwood (Birkenhead) 11th and James Sutcliffe (St Anselm's) 13th.

In the Inter Boys' race, Karl Chapman (Bebington High) came fourth, also qualifying for the English Schools' Championships. He was followed by Simon McDonald (St Anselm's) seventh, Ian Tinsley (Pensby) eighth and Joe Barber (Wirral Grammar) 12th.

Chris Lindsay (Calday) was in dominant form, winning the Senior Boys' race by a wide margin and thus becoming Wirral's only Merseyside Champion. Phil Peerless (Birkenhead Sixth Form College) finished fourth, Stuart Mason (St Anselm's) fifth and Stephen Milward (Birkenhead) sixth. Both Chris Lindsay and Phil Peerless will gain automatic selection to the English Schools' team.

The English Schools' Cross Country Championships are due to be held at Newark in early March. Further selections for the Merseyside team will follow later this month.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.